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Published on: January 28, 2019
Characterization of high-intensity sub-4-fs laser pulses using spatially encoded spectral shearing interferometry
Tobias Witting1, Felix Frank, Christopher A Arrell
1Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, UK. t.witting@imperial.ac.uk
Optics Letters
|May 5, 2011
Summary
We fully characterized high-intensity, few-cycle laser pulses using spectral phase interferometry for direct electric field reconstruction. This technique precisely measures sub-4 femtosecond pulses generated via hollow core fiber and chirped mirrors.
Area of Science:
- Optics and Photonics
- Ultrafast Laser Science
- Quantum Technologies
Background:
- High-intensity, few-cycle laser pulses are crucial for nonlinear optics and attosecond science.
- Accurate characterization of pulse amplitude and phase is essential for controlling light-matter interactions.
- Existing methods may lack the spatial resolution or bandwidth for characterizing novel laser sources.
Purpose of the Study:
- To perform a comprehensive amplitude and phase characterization of high-intensity few-cycle laser pulses.
- To demonstrate the capability of a single-stage hollow core fiber system coupled with ultrabroadband chirped mirrors for generating such pulses.
- To validate the use of spatially-encoded arrangement spectral phase interferometry for direct electric field reconstruction (SEA-SPIDER) for sub-4 fs pulse analysis.
Main Methods:
- Generation of few-cycle laser pulses using a single-stage hollow core fiber system.
- Compression of the laser pulses using ultrabroadband chirped mirrors.
- Characterization of the pulse electric field using spatially-encoded arrangement spectral phase interferometry for direct electric field reconstruction (SEA-SPIDER).
- Utilizing spectral filters for ancilla generation within the SEA-SPIDER technique.
Main Results:
- Full amplitude and phase characterization of the generated high-intensity few-cycle laser pulses was achieved.
- Pulses with durations as short as sub-4 femtoseconds were successfully measured.
- The SEA-SPIDER technique provided high spatial resolution in the characterization process.
Conclusions:
- The combined system of hollow core fiber and chirped mirrors is effective for generating high-intensity few-cycle laser pulses.
- SEA-SPIDER is a robust method for the complete characterization of ultrashort laser pulses with spatial resolution.
- This work advances the metrology of ultrashort laser pulses, enabling new applications in ultrafast science.
